


Three Times that Miguel made Tulio's Life an Adventure

by TheSecondBatgirl



Category: Road to El Dorado (2000)
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2009-12-18
Updated: 2009-12-18
Packaged: 2017-10-04 14:06:11
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,114
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/31036
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheSecondBatgirl/pseuds/TheSecondBatgirl
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>You made my life an adventure.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Three Times that Miguel made Tulio's Life an Adventure

**Author's Note:**

  * For [shine](https://archiveofourown.org/users/shine/gifts).



The first time that Tulio met Miguel, Tulio was in Barcelona, and he was trying to persuade a very nice young (and extremely rich) widow that of course he was distantly related to her late husband, and that he would be glad to help her manage her estates and business while she was in her mourning period.

Tulio was not at all expecting that someone else would try the same thing. Tulio recognized the other man when he appeared - he was blond, with big green eyes, and a neatly trimmed beard. There was only one conman who matched that particular description. This had to be Miguel. If Tulio recalled correctly, the last he had heard of Miguel, a year ago, Miguel had been banned from Barcelona after an incident involving a lord's daughter. Tulio had been running dice games at the time, so his information was all third hand.

"Greetings, cousin!" Miguel said, smiling up at Tulio brightly. "I've only just arrived from Madrid and heard of our other dearly departed cousin's death, and I've come to offer you my assistance."

"That's really not necessary," Tulio told him. This was a one person job, and he really didn't need someone interfering with the con - or competition for the con, either. A small part of him wondered if Miguel might _actually_ be a real cousin, but he was experienced enough to recognize another con man when he saw one.

"Oh, I think it is, friend," Miguel said, his mouth widening into a grin. "I'm sure that you and I will find a lot to talk about over the coming days." He gave Tulio a glance, and the look was challenging and intriguing all at once. "Besides," Miguel added. "I have a business proposition for you."

There was something about Miguel that Tulio just couldn't deny.

"Well then, cousin," he said. "I'll be glad to see what it is that you have to offer me."

~*~

The first time that they got into a sword fight in the street, it actually wasn't part of their act. They had been working together in Madrid ever since that first con had fallen apart (who knew that the widow actually did have a relative on the way to help her manage her estate?) and they had been getting more and more on each others nerves. Their partnership might have gone better if their cons had been more successful, at least in Tulio's thinking. Gold would probably have made a lot of things better, and he would have been able to tolerate Miguel's eccentricities a lot more if they hadn't lost money because of them.

It was just that Miguel had this unfortunate tendency to get distracted whenever something shiny and interesting (but not gold, Tulio could understand gold) crossed his path. That really wasn't good at all when you were _supposed_ to be concentrating on a con. But Miguel had a sense of justice that didn't make sense to Tulio - they were con men. But every now and then someone would cross their path and Miguel wouldn't stop until he and Tulio had fixed whatever was wrong with them. On some level, Tulio could at least respect that. The thing he really didn't understand was when Miguel would run off on some hair brained scheme that had no chance for profit, just because he said it would be an adventure.

That was what had started the fight in the first place. Miguel had heard something about a city of gold, and he was trying to convince Tulio that they should abandon their current scheme to go after it. Tulio was all about cities of gold, but he was also a realist, and he wasn't about to abandon a surefire money maker to chase after a legend. Their argument had unfortunately progressed to a level where swords were drawn (Tulio hadn't actually meant to call Miguel a useless failure, but he was still a little bit annoyed at Miguel for messing up the previous con to try and find a sunken pirate ship that turned out not to have any treasure on it at all because the pirates buried it) and they had attracted quite a crowd, including the authorities.

In the heat of the moment, neither of them noticed the wanted posters adorned with their faces plastered not ten feet from where they were fighting, and Tulio was worried that they were going to be arrested at the end. Getting out of this now was far more important than whatever his argument with Miguel had been. He caught Miguel's eye, and even as their swords clashed again, something passed between them. As one, they whirled around to simultaneously punch the approaching officer, and then they ran.

As they did, both laughing, Tulio thought that even with Miguel's eccentricities, Miguel still made a good partner.

~*~

The first time that Tulio and Miguel kissed, he thought that they were both going to die. It wasn't the first time that the two of them had been caught (there had after all been that unfortunate incident involving a baby, a cursed statue, and the army) but this time was serious. Tulio was almost sure that they were going to be executed - and if not, this was the last time that he went along with one of Miguel's ideas, no matter what sort of faces Miguel made at him.

Still, Tulio wasn't ready to die yet. There was still gold to be found, cons to be run, and a confession to be made. Since he was in jail, there wasn't much chance of doing the first two. Not until they managed to escape, anyway.

"Miguel," he said quietly, his voice choked with emotion.

"Yes, Tulio?" Miguel answered.

"I have something to tell you."

"If it's about how you took more than your fair share during that con with the wishing well, I already know about that," Miguel said.

"It's not that," Tulio said quickly.

"It's not? Well, I figured you'd get around to telling me one day. Does it have something to do with our miracle hair care scam in Seville that nearly made you go bald?"

"I didn't go bald!" Tulio protested. "It's not that either."

"Oh, it must be that other thing then," Miguel answered, turning to him. "I already know this one." And with that, Miguel leaned in and pressed his lips against Tulio's. It was sweet and felt just right. Tulio relaxed into the kiss, sharing with Miguel everything he felt about Miguel in that very moment, and had felt for quite a while now.

It hadn't quite been what he'd intended to tell Miguel, but it was probably even better.


End file.
